Slipping
by strawnilla
Summary: Gao supposes it's a Mikado family thing, for all the males to suck at ice skating. He also supposes it's a good thing, since he ran, quite literally, into one beautiful boy because of it.


(RUNS IN AT SPEED OF LIGHT) TASUGAAAOOOOO

im sorry i still love this ship so much even tho i am severely outdated with whats going on in buddyfight LAUGHS cries;;;

* * *

"I told you guys, I… can't… _do it!_ "

 _SMACK!_

Gao finds himself lying face-first on the ice.

Hanako laughs giddily at her brother, smoothly skating around Gao's defeated form. Yota, on the other hand, can only smile weakly as he holds onto the ice rink wall with an iron grip, knees shaking as he tries to at least walk.

Their mother skates towards Gao, holding a hand out for him. She laughs as he struggles to get up.

"How is Hana so good at this?!" Gao grumbles once he's on his feet, eyes following his younger sister who's skating all around him like a pro figurine skater.

"Obviously it's because I've got more talent than you." Hanako says with pride, skating past Gao on one foot towards the eldest of her two brothers. She holds onto Yota's jacket and grins up at him. "Come on, Yota! I know you can do it!"

Yota tries to smile but it's a shaky one. "I… I'm not entirely sure about that, Hana." His grip on the wall wouldn't relent, not even for a second. He looks so nervous being on ice that it's comical. He hasn't even moved far from the entrance.

At least now he and Gao knows why their father chose to sit in the sidelines with the camera instead.

Hanako pouts, and with one strong tug, manages to pull the imbalanced Yota off the wall and out into the open rink. He squeaks, stumbles and waves his arms around in circles for exactly three seconds before he ends up flat on the ice, just a step away from where he originally stood.

Gao laughs. Yota whines.

"Hana, stop bullying your brothers..." Suzumi reprimands the little girl, but nobody can mistake the amusement on her face. Hanako merely grins innocently. She twirls in one place before skating away towards the center of the rink.

Suzumi skates over towards Yota to help him up, leaving Gao behind to fend for himself. Gao looks at the other skaters in the rink besides his younger sister. Most of them are pretty average—they can at least skate along the wall without holding onto anything or anyone. There are a select few who are practically _dancing_ on ice, and Gao just stares at them like _what the hell._

How did these people get so good at ice skating?

Determination wells up in his body and Gao slides one foot forward. Slowly, he moves along, arms high up in the air for assisted balance. He's super slow and he feels like he's going to fall over anytime soon, but a grin stretches across his face when he settles into a rhythm and he can skate.

Sure, it's not smooth. Sure, he has no idea how to turn or stop or whatever. But at least he's doing it! He'll learn the rest along the way. For now, he wants to focus on completing one circle around the rink.

"You're doing great, Gao!" he hears Yota call out from behind, and Gao doesn't dare to turn his head around to look. He's confident that Yota's holding onto their mother like a lifeline as she pulls him along anyway.

"Thanks!" He says back. If Yota heard him or not, he can't really tell, because he heard Yota yelp once and a loud thud following right after.

Gao moves forward. He sees Hanako skating to a stop ways ahead of him, waving her little arms at him to encourage him. "Come on, Gao!"

He tries to skate a little faster. If he falls, at least he can catch himself on the wall. So he slides one foot forward, and then the other, and then the next. He notices that he's gaining speed and by this point the grin on his face is stretching all the way to his ears.

Hanako notices his progress too and cheers happily. But their celebration is short-lived, because somehow for some reason, Gao maneuvered himself to the left and basically into the crowd of more experienced and skilled skaters.

By a miracle, Gao didn't fall in his panic, and the others expertly avoided him in time, not even fazed by a sudden rookie in the middle of their lane. He doesn't get a moment to feel relieved though, because when he looks up, he sees someone with sky blue hair skating towards him at a remarkable speed. And it doesn't look like they know how to stop either.

"M-MOVE AWAY!"

"I DON'T KNOW HOW!"

 _CRASH!_

He hears himself and another voice scream during the impact, and all he feels are the mess of arms, body and legs.

"Urgh…" Gao groans. The hard and cold ice on his back is a normal sensation to him now. But the hard and _warm_ weight on his chest is a new one. He cracks an eye open, and all he can see is sky blue hair blocking his field of vision.

The weight on his chest moves and it's at that point Gao fully comprehends that it's another _person_ , whose face is practically buried into Gao's neck.

He blushes.

"Um…" Gao raises his hands, intending to put them on the stranger's shoulders, but he leaves them hanging midair. He's not entirely sure if the other person would be comfortable with nonconsensual physical contact.

The stranger groans, pushing themselves up. It seems to be another boy, maybe a year or two older than Gao. He rubs his nose, sitting up, and when he opens his eyes, Gao catches his breath at the sight of two ruby red orbs.

His jaw drops a little as he gets a full view of the stranger's face. He doesn't even notice that the stranger's already standing, holding a hand out for Gao.

"Are you okay…?"

"…"

"Um…?"

"…"

"BIG BROTHER! ARE YOU OKAY?!"

"EH, wait, what?!" Gao sits up immediately, alarmed by the voice of his little sister screaming. The stranger, surprised just like him, merely chuckles. He still has a hand outstretched for Gao though, which Gao shyly takes.

When he's up on his two feet, he grins meekly, scratching the back of his head. He feels a small hand on his jacket and knows that it's Hanako immediately but he can't really focus his attention on his little sister when there's a beautiful angel in front of him.

"Uh, I'm sorry about that…" Gao says. He can still feel the heat on his cheeks. The stranger giggles again, and Gao feels a tight but comforting grip on his hand before he realizes they're still holding each other's gloved hands.

"It was my fault too. You don't have to apologize."

"O-Okay…"

From behind Tasuku, a group of teens skate towards them. One of them with white long messy hair says, "Hey, Tasuku! You done flirting yet or what?"

"Rouga, don't tease him too much. You're embarrassing him in front of his crush." The other white haired one in a turtleneck sweater says.

"That's the point, Kyoya."

The stranger in front of him turns bright red and Gao's pretty sure he's just as red.

Tasuku—Gao's sure that's his name—glares at his two friends, who smirk at Tasuku cheekily and give Gao a once-over before skating away.

"God, sorry about them… They're always out to get me." Tasuku says, turning to face Gao again. There's a bashful smile on his face, one that makes Gao see flowers and sparkles.

"It's… It's fine." He manages to smile back. He can feel Hanako pulling on his jacket, trying to get him to move or pay attention to her, but he's too drawn in by Tasuku to really take note of her existence in the mean time.

They stand near each other for a few seconds, nervously looking away and giggling when they make eye contact.

It feels like forever later before Tasuku says, "Well, I'll see you around, Gao." He waves his hand, grins and skates away towards his friends.

It takes Gao a moment of waving back, and Hanako pulling him all the way down to the ice again, for him to realize one peculiar thing…

 _How does he know my name?_


End file.
